Easy opening reclosable carton



Jan. 30, 1968 W. O. SIMPSON ET AL EASY OPENING RECLOSABLE CARTON Filed Feb. 25, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet l "l/4 a Z.7 y? .az

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Jan. 30, 1968 Filed Feb. 25, 1967 W. O. SIMPSON ET AL.

EASY OPENING RECLOSABLE CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O 3,366,310 EASY OPENING RECLOSABLE CARTON Warren 0. Simpson and Charles H. Bridges, Battle Creek, Mich., assignors to Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 23, 1967, Ser. No. 618,081 2 Claims. (Cl. 229-51) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A paperboard carton characterized by lines of perforation defining an opposed pair of tear strips and an intermediate tongue or tuck tab formed in an uppermost carton closure ap, the tongue being adapted for engagement with a complementary slot in a lower closure ap for reclosing of the carton after it has once been opened.

The present invention relates to an easy opening reclosable carton formed from a paperboard blank cut, scored and perforated to dene a rectangular carton having side walls and top and bottom closure flaps hinged thereto. The top closure aps comprise an opposed pair of spaced dust flaps and an opposed pair of interengageable closure iiaps in partial overlying relationship to each other which are sequentially folded and secured over the dust flaps.

The lowermost one of the interengageable flaps is medially formed with a tucking slot adapted to receive a tongue or tuck tab from the uppermost one of the interengageable closure flaps for reclosing purposes after the carton -has once been opened. The uppermost closure flap is formed with perforation or incision lines defining said tongue and with further perforation lines defining an opposed pair of triangular tear strips having their apexes originating adjacent the root of the tongue and extending to the side of the flap Whereat the triangular tear strips may be elevated and separated from the uppermost flap on its predetermined lines of perforation, and the tongue broken away at the same time on its defining lines of perforation.

The carton top is constructed and arranged so that the dust fiaps are spaced from each other and from the tuck tab receiving slot, and lthe uppermost closure ap is secured to the closure flap beneath it only in an area between its triangular tear strips and the free edge of the flap, that is, the edge opposed to the hinge line.

-It has therefore been proposed to provide unitary tear strips which extend completely across the top closure flap and to leave a tongue, but these have inherently caused the tongue to be relatively short and of unsatisfactory reclosability, or the use of flaps of a size which extend completely over the carton top with economic waste of paperboard.

It is an object of the present invention to provide economy in paperboard by providing the flaps at the top of the carton with a dimension less than that of the carton in a direction normal to the ap hinge line, and by reason of the arrangement of the perforation lines and the pair of triangular pull tabs, a tongue of maximum desired length is formed which permits repeated, secure reclosing of the carton top. The carton is normally sealed after packaging, and during shipment and storage will not have a tendency to become accidentally broken, and yet has easy positive opening characteristics when desired.

Furthermore, the closure after opening in accordance with the design intent, is readily and easily reclosable throughout the useable life of the contents of the carton.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention, its details of construction, arrangement of parts and 3,355,31@ Patented Jan. 30, 1968 economies thereof will be apparent from a consideration of the following specification and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a plan view of the blank showing the upper portion of the carton of the present invention.

lFIG. 2 is a perspective view of the upper portion of the carton of the present invention before the top closure flaps have been laid down.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but is progressive thereto, showing the dust liaps closed down and one of the top interengageable closure flaps closed down and one remaining open.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary'enlarged top plan View of the closed carton top of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the top of the carton of the present invention illustrating the lifting of one of the triangular tear strips.

FIG. 6 is a view progressive to that of FIG. 5 showing in perspective the uppermost carton ap separated from the immediately adjacent lower fiap.

FIG. 7 is another perspective view of the carton top progressive to that of FIG. 5, showing the carton reclosed after once having been opened by inserting the -tongue of the uppermost liap into the companion slit or slot of the lower adjacent tab.

Referring to the drawings, the panels 10 and 11 define carton `side walls, the panel d0 being hinged at 12 to the end panel 13 and at 14 to the opposed end panel `15. The panel l1 is hinged at 16 to the end panel 1S and at 17 to the side tab i8 which is adhesively secured to the panel 13 to form a rectangular carton. To the panel 13 there is secured a dust fiap 19 on the hinge line 20. An opposed dust flap 2l is hinged to the panel '15 on the score line 22. To the wall 1G there is hinged on the line 23 a flap 24 which comprises the lower one of the pair of interengageable closure flaps, this fiap 24 being formed medially with a slit or tuck tab slot 25 adapted to receive the tuck tab or tongue 26 formed on the uppermost interengageable closure flap 27 which is hinged to the wall 11 on the score line 2S.

The slit 25 for receiving the tuck tab 26 may actually be formed of interrupted slits, perforations or incisions which can readily be severed so as to form a depressible tab aided by the continuation of the slit at the inturned lines of incision Z9, 29.

The tongue 26 is likewise defined by interrupted lines of severance or perforations which can readily be broken by pressure. The uppermost ap 27 is further formed with lines of perforation defining the oppositely extending tear strips 3), 30, each of which have their apexes originating adjacent the root of tongue 26 and which extend to the side edges 31, 31 of the ap whereat there are notches 32, 32 at the outer ends of the perforation lines 33 and 34. By reason of the notches 32, 32, the tear strips 3d may be readily grasped manually and separated from the iiap 27 as illustrated in FdG. 5. These lines of perforation 33 and 34 may be formed in any conventional manner with the line 33 being parallel to the hinge line 28 and the perforation line 34 diverging therefrom in a direction towards the hinge line 28.

Although the tuck tab 26 extends to adjacent the free edge 35 of flap 27, the tuck tab slot or slit 25 lies Well inwardly to the free edge 36 of flap 24.

In setting up the carton after it has been squared up in the manner shown in PIG. 2, the dust flaps 19 and 21 are first folded down against the contents of the carton, such as a liner bag containing for example toasted cereals, the tabs being provided with certain ink hold-out areas, resulting in adhesive being applied to the tabs 19 and 2l only at areas 37 and 38 respectively so that when the closure flap 24 is secured thereover it will only be secured at these areas 37 and 3S, thus can be'readily separated by manually breaking the adhesive for access to the contents of thecarton.

In a similar manner, adhesive is applied to the flap ythe portion between the free edge 3S and the perforation lines defining `the tab `26 and the triangular tear tabs 30, 30. Thus, after the top flaps of the carton are closed down first in a manner shown in FIG. 3 and then the manner shown in FIG. 4, the carton can be opened for use by elevating the tear strip 3Q, 39 by grasping them at their outer base portions and lifting them so that they separate on their lines of perforation 33, 34, and by further lifting or pressure the tongue 26 will separate on its defining lines of perforation permitting the flap 27 to be elevated as shown in FiG. 6 with exposure of the tuck tab slot 25 in flap 24, the outer portion 27 of the flap 27 between the perforation lines defining the tear strips 30,

V30 and the tongue 26 and the free edge 35 remaining adhered to the flap 24. At this stage the flap 24 can be separated from the dust flaps 19 and 21 by breaking the adhesive areas 37 and 38 to permit access to `the carton contents.

Y For reclosing the carton, it is rnerely'necessary to fold down the dust aps 19 and 21, fold the ap 24 thereover, and then insert the tongue or tuck tab 25 in the slot 25, whereupon it forms a serviceable reclosure. By reason of the construction and arrangement of the present invention, the tuck tab 26 is relatively long or desirably so, so that it can be inserted and withdrawn from the slit or slot 25 a reasonable number of times consistent with the use of the con-tents of the carton, and

permits greater box deformation before the reclosure feature becomes inoperative.

-It is further apparent that location of the tucking slot away from the extremity or free edge 36 of iap 24 and location of the tuck tab 26 toward the edge35 of its flap 27 increases efficiency of the reclosing operation.

We claim:

1. A rectangular paperboard carton comprising side `walls and top closure aps hinged thereto, said top closure fla-ps comprising an opposed pair of dust flaps and an opposed pair of interengageable aps in but pa-rtial overlying `relationship to each other and sequentially folded and secured over said dust flaps, the lowermost one of said interengageab-le flaps being medially formed with a slit parallel to its line of hinge with a -side wall and 'adapted to receive a tongue from the uppermost one of said interengageable fla-ps, the latter ap being formed with perforation lines dening a tongue having its terminal edge disposed Within the fla-p on a line parallelto the flap hinge line land its side edges diverging therefrom towards the flap hinge line and engageable within the aforesaid slit,

said uppermost flap being further formed with perforation lines initiating adjacent to and extendingand diverging from the root of said tongue to the side edges of said uppermost ap dening an opposed pair of triangular tear strips wherein said triangular tear strips are each defined by a line of perforations parallel to the lap hinge line and a lline of perforations inclined thereto and extending in a direction towards but space-d from said hinge line and terminate .at notches formed in the opposed side edges of the flap providing linger grasping and tear strip e-levating means.

2. The carton of claim l'wherein the dust flaps are spaced from each other and said slit, wherein the lowermost of said interengagea'ble flaps is secured to said dust flaps, and said uppermost ap is secured to s-aid lowermost flap only in an area between its said triangular tear str-ips and its edge opposed to its hinge line.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,235,167 2/ 1966 Svensson 229-51 3,263,899 8/ 1966 Collura et al. 229-51 3,281,052 10/ 1966 Michels 229-51 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

R. PESHOCK, Assistant Emminer. 

